A small column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles has left the strategically key Georgian city of Gori and an officer says they are headed back to Russia. The column, which also included what appeared to be a mobile rocket-launcher, passed the village of Ruisi, outside Gori on the road to South Ossetia on Tuesday afternoon. Col. Igor Konoshenkov, a Russian military officer on the scene, told The Associated Press that the unit was headed for South Ossetia and ultimately back to Russia. Konoshenkov said the movement was part of the Russian pullback mandated by the cease-fire. It requires both sides to return troops to the positions they held before the Aug. 7 outbreak of heavy fighting in South Ossetia, a Russian-backed separatist region of Georgia.
Russia and Georgia on Tuesday exchanged prisoners captured during their brief war, a move that may reduce tensions and, Georgia hopes, hasten the promised withdrawal of Russian troops. Georgian Security Council head Alexander Lomaia said the swap removes any pretext for Russians to hold positions in Igoeti. The village is the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, about 30 miles away. Yet as NATO foreign ministers prepared to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels over a unified response to Russia's invasion of its tiny neighbor, there still was no sign of the Russian troop pullout from Georgia that was supposed to have begun Monday. A Russian defense official indicated Tuesday that a complete withdrawal from Georgia proper was not imminent.
"Rear units, as well as second and third echelon units are being pulled back first. The vanguard units will be pulled back at the final stage," Col. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia's land forces, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. Tuesday's prisoner exchange, witnessed by Lomaia and Russian Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav Borisov, included 15 Georgians and five Russians, Lomaia said.
